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You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. At that moment readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.

The artist, birth name Jess Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with typical candour. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time dealing with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.

She gives me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.

We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and oversized specs. Think motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. She is sharp-witted, bold and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I frequently joke about the crowd.”

Personal Battles and News

Cornish was planning an appearance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had so much on.

“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after years away and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but this time I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but however Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”

A History of Health Challenges

The singer is no stranger to illness. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”

She reminisces to her youth, already starting her career performing in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and young Jessica has joined the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”

Wow, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees